Chocolate Ginger Cake

Way back in January I promised to share a chocolate ginger cake recipe with you.  At the time, I wanted to make a cake using some of the ginger simple syrup that I had made.  I was aiming for a cake that was spicy, flavorful, and moist.  I made a few different versions using the ginger simple syrup, but the cakes wouldn't turn out the way I wanted them to be.  They were dry, crumbly, and uninspired.  Eventually, I decided that using the simple syrup in the cake wasn't the way to go, and I put the recipe idea on hold. 

Then, last week I was browsing through our cookbooks and stumbled across a chocolate cake recipe in the cookbook Chocolate.  First, I have to tell you that I probably spent an hour a week while I was in grad school flipping through Chocolate and thinking about baking.  Everything that I've made using the cookbook has been delicious.  As soon as I saw the recipe, I thought of my previous attempts at making chocolate ginger cakes and knew that using the recipe as a base would result in just the cake I was looking for.  The end result was perfect:  a moist, gingery cake that was easy to make, traveled well, and left me wanting more.

Notes:
If your cocoa powder is lumpy, sift it to remove any lumps.  The cocoa powder I use for this recipe is Natural High Fat Cocoa from Penzeys Spices.  I use a mini food processor to mince the crystallized ginger quickly, and I measure the amount once it has been minced.  Since there is a smaller amount of the fresh ginger, it is difficult to finely mince it in the food processor, so I start the fresh ginger in the food processor and then use a sharp knife and cutting board to finish chopping it finely.  I mince the fresh and crystallized ginger prior to preheating the oven.  I use full-fat sour cream for this recipe.  

Recipe adapted from Chocolate: From Simple Cookies to Extravagant Showstoppers

Ingredients:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup cocoa powder (sifted if there are any lumps)
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon powdered ginger
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1⅓ cups white sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons finely minced fresh ginger root (from about 2 inches of root)
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
½ cup finely minced crystallized ginger

Yields one 10x5 inch loaf cake (about 12 servings)

Mix:
Set a rack at the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350°F.  Butter a 10x5-inch loaf pan, and line it with parchment paper or buttered wax paper, leaving some overhang on the 10-inch sides of the pan to easily lift the cake out of the pan once it has baked.  In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, powdered ginger, and nutmeg, and set it aside for later use.  In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each egg is fully incorporated.  Then beat in the vanilla and fresh minced ginger.  Lower the mixer speed, add half of the dry ingredients, and beat until incorporated.  Scrape the bowl and the beaters, and then add all of the sour cream, and beat until combined.  Scrape again, add the remaining dry ingredients, beat until incorporated, scrape again, and then gently beat or stir in the crystallized ginger.  The batter will be very thick. 

Bake:
Transfer the batter into the prepared pan, and bake at 350°F for 55 to 65 minutes, or until the cake has risen and a knife or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.  Cool the cake in the pan on a cooling rack for 5 minutes, lift the cake out of the pan using the parchment paper overhang, and place it on the cooling rack.  Tip the cake on its sides to remove the parchment paper and then place the cake on the rack upright to cool.  Store the cooled cake at room temperature in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic.  You may also freeze the cake.

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